Just as Yongguk had promised, their goal wasn't far. It barely took them ten minutes until the literal end of the canyon. The steep grey walls narrowed down until no human would fit in between anymore and soon united again far, far from Asora and Zey. The wandering group stood with their legs on either side of the wall comfortably and looked around while Yongguk explained the situation to them with no hurry.

"It's up there on a little ledge. I'd suggestionise that two of you get it and the rest of us waits here."

Without a word, San and Jongho had exchanged a glance before they set out. San's agile body had no issues with scaling the walls smoothly, but he checked on the far slower Jongho multiple times. Ultimately, the pink-haired man voiced a sound of discovery and beckoned Jongho over.

Tense, Yeosang stared up at them. Now, after this long time, they had arrived here. They had found whatever Seonghwa had needed them to search and they would be able to use it for good. In the best-case scenario, Yeosang would also be able to prove his father's innocence with it. Then, they just had to eliminate the person behind those foul strategies, and they would succeed. And from then on, they could work on the reunification of the two cities. Yeosang couldn't wait to get it on with and now that the item was within an arm's reach, he nearly died of curiosity of just what it might be.

"Careful here."

San's quiet voice still seemed tumultuous in the echoing canyon. While he helped Jongho up on the ledge, Yeosang exchanged a glance with Mingi. The red-haired man just gave him a quizzical stare. Neither of them had any idea about what their goal marked.

"Oh wow... It really got swallowed by the rocks. You were right!" Jongho called down to Yongguk. With his lips set into a thin line, the hermit nodded.

A few minutes of hammering and hacking away at the stone followed. Jongho did the work while San instructed him where to take care of edges. Since the weapons were attached to Jongho, there was no other way, but Yeosang still gnawed at his lips at the thought of him hurting his shoulder all over again. He would redress it countless times without complaint, but he didn't want to know Jongho in pain.

Apart from the two men's work, tense silence enveloped the rest of them. Paired with the general coldness that seeped from the canyon walls, it had Yeosang shiver. He missed the sun and the sky; the constant darkness around him started to weigh on his mind heavily.

It took the two men working on their mysterious item a while, but they managed to retrieve the object from the stone that had no doubt grown over it after a while. Yeosang remembered Yongguk's words with an uneasy tug in his stomach. There might have been a reason why the canyon hid the item away from the light of day. Perhaps, they all would be better off not knowing its secrets.

Once the two on top started their descent with the spherical object and vaguely as big as a playing ball tucked underneath San's arm, Yongguk called for them to leave. The three would go ahead and make sure the conversation that would follow no doubt wouldn't have to take place in some cold gorge corner. Still, even as he climbed behind Mingi, Yeosang couldn't help but continuously glance over his shoulder to check on the item. It looked completely foreign to him. He couldn't place it in any possible way. He had expected a weapon, or maybe just some document of sorts, but this thing could be anything.

Yeosang withstood his curiosity on their way back and until they had all filed into the living room. Just as yesterday, they spread out as much as possible. Yongguk's face remained unreadable and dark; he fell quiet even quicker than before. Nobody knew what to say when Jongho sat the heavy metal item down on the table. Some dirt and tiny stones clung to it that crumbled off the surface just now.

With no sense at all, Yeosang stared at the dull item. Its brass surface had inscriptions etched into the body parts that weren't interrupted by symmetrical black veins that seemed to wrap around the whole object like a gift. It had no openings or anything to attach it by. The item was entirely odd and useless.

"What is it?" Mingi was the first one to break the silence. San left it to Jongho to talk while scratching the dirt from the writings and letting his eyes run over them full of wonder.

When they all first glanced at Yongguk, he just shrugged. He seemed to know none the better than them, or he chose not to share his knowledge. When Jongho redirected their attention back to him by slapping the brass ball gently, Yeosang curiously looked him up and down.

"I know what this is. I've dealt with them before. This thing is a component of the IEI, the institute responsible for the whole city's energy flow when it was still united. It got destroyed during the earthquake. Hence a few pieces must have landed back here somehow."

Astounded, Yeosang scrutinised their latest treasure closer. Indeed, those veins looked similar to those on the newer nethicite machines, albeit ancient. He supposed that if this had been the tech 200 years ago, it made sense how it had developed. But just how would something that fell into the canyon because of an earthquake get this far back here? It had been placed too weirdly. As if it waited to be found again.

"How convenient, isn't it?"

Surprised, Yeosang glanced at Yongguk. He hadn't expected the man to partake in their conference again. Now, however, he had risen his voice, and it carried the same bitterness as Jongho's sometimes did. It was the hatred from Zey, grown from the sheer injustice the westsiders experienced every day. Before Yeosang could ask, Mingi replied to his sudden statement, though.

"What do you mean, convenient?"

"The whole city once had nethicite energies thanks to this core. Now, only Asora has."

So it was a core. A core that had generated the flow between both cities even. An essential item indeed, in the grand scheme of the whole institute. All of it got destroyed during the big shaking, after all. Yeosang doubted that Zey would be helped if they returned this item. The part about Asora had him falter, though. Was Yongguk claiming that Asora had taken over everything?

"Are you implying that Asora greedily took it all? If Zey could work with these energies, they would share, but they lack the funds! Or the possibility to recreate these energies for that matter!"

He hadn't meant to get so loud, but slowly, the things started to piece together in Yeosang's mind. Seonghwa must have known that the core was here, and by handing it back to Zey, he hoped for cooperation. The core promised economic development to Zey, and it would help get them out of their misery. And in the best case, it might even restrengthen the bonds between the two cities if it were to create a connection between both.

Yongguk wasn't done yet, though. His shoulders were tense when he crossed his arms as if he had to keep himself stabilised. Finally, he spoke up. Contrary to Yeosang's belief that he hid away back here to cut himself off the world, he knew more than he let on.

"Let me rephrase this before you get angry. The king, do you know what he looks like?"

That came out of the blue. Generally, it was relatively common that the population of Asorazey didn't know. After all, the king was old and not at the best of health. His weakness rendered him immobile, and he usually sent out Seonghwa to be the face of their family. So far, it had worked. Clearly, Yeosang knew what his father looked like, but with that, he was the only one in the room, he had believed.

"Yeah, I do."

"Do the others know?"

They didn't. And Yeosang started to wonder how Yongguk could. Or how any of this related to the topic at hand. He disliked speaking about his father, and if anything, he would move that conversation to a later point once they knew more about the core and what Seonghwa wanted with it.

Yet, he played along, for the peace of it. Yongguk's deep voice was urgent, and Yeosang didn't want to snap at him. They all were too tense for that.

"He seldomly shows himself... But I have a drawing of him, even if it's bad." With those words, Yeosang marched over to his backpack. He produced his drawing book from there and began to flick through the pages. The back of it was nearly filled by now with drawings of his friends and new plot ideas, but he knew the early pages like the back of his hand. He hadn't looked at this particular sheet ever since he had closed it the first time he drew on it. Even now, he spared it no glance as he handed the book over. Curious, the group let it travel through the room so everybody could get a glimpse.

"What the...

"Horrific."

Jongho said nothing. Yeosang suspected he might have already viewed the page when he had flicked through the book once to write his name down there. Yeosang averted his eyes when San and Mingi threw him worried glances. Undeterred, Yongguk continued speaking. Once the book was shut, San laid it down next to the core. Like a vile insect, it rested there, and Yeosang shunned looking at it.

"The king is a machine. He is artificially being kept alive by nethicite. But if he has the sources to prolong people's lives, then why isn't everybody a cyborg like him?"

The room kept silent at this other sudden change of topics. They went in circles, Yongguk kept throwing things in the room that seemed entirely unrelated and needed interpretation for understanding. His abstract thoughts had Yeosang's mind reeling, and Jongho just stared at him blankly.

"What do you think, how much energy does it take to power a machine that gives you powers beyond human imagination? That makes you to a god, basically? Maybe - and pardon me if I might miscalculate - half a city's worth of power?"

Yeosang blanched. It couldn't be.

The only person still coherent enough to conspire with Yongguk was Mingi.

"Are you saying-"

"I merely wanted to point out that the earthquake that ripped the two cities apart and redirected all nethicite energies towards Asora occurred very conveniently just when a king decided he needed a lot of energy to prolong his life."

"You are saying that he utilised the situation to his own gains? And that is why Zey suffers?" Mingi added right up, his eyes gleaming with interest. The rest of them got increasingly more uncomfortable.

"Oh, I would even be confident and make another suggestion. I dare say that the earthquake that perfectly divided Asorazey in the middle was anything but a natural disaster. I wouldn't put it past a person who wants power to kill hundreds and ditch a whole community for it. And to then becoming a thriving king while the public believes it to be a cruel twist of fate."

Shivers ran down Yeosang's spine.

There was no way that was true. It must be something else. A coincidence. Maybe the king had used those energies only after the earthquake when the core was already lost, and he saw potential? But then why wouldn't he try to rebuild a bridge to give the energy back instead of keeping it?

Yeosang roughly ran his hand through his hair when his heart froze over more and more. There had to be a solution. Maybe again this other person behind the king? Maybe they had coerced him into it. No reigning power would be so cruel. Yeosang's father was a scary man, but he wouldn't go to such extends.

Still, Yeosang's eyes wavered when he rose them to Yongguk. A sympathetic sad little smile played around his lips.

"I also wouldn't put it past such a person to kill their son if he found out about this foul game, for that matter."

Once more, Yeosang's world shattered around him. All the hopeful pieces he had collected so carefully to uphold a sense of security and trust, they got blown to dust.

Tears welled up in his eyes when he finally understood. When he truly, finally understood just how bad the cities suffered and where all that misery came from.

Seonghwa had been right, and Yeosang should never have questioned his motives.

Their father was the bad guy. And he needed to be stopped.